Evan Longoria knocks 4 hits, Rays battle back to beat Yankees

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Evan Longoria believed good at-bats were coming, and he was right.

Longoria got four hits, including a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning that sent the Tampa Bay Rays over the New York Yankees 5-4 on Friday night.

Longoria began the game in an 0-for-12 rut, but has often done well against the Yankees, totaling 102 RBIs in 156 games. His go-ahead hit came with two outs after Tyler Clippard (0-2) walked two and struck out a pair.

“I felt like I was due,” Longoria said. “A good game to break out in.”

Danny Farquhar (2-1) induced an inning-ending double play from Aaron Judge in the eighth before Alex Colome got three outs to pick up his 11th save.

Since 2010, the Rays are the only AL team with a winning record against the Yankees (70-67).

Yankees manager Joe Girardi missed the game to attend the high school graduation of his daughter in south Florida. He will rejoin the team Saturday.

Bench coach Rob Thomson filled in for Girardi for the fourth time.

“He’s hurt us in the past,” Thomson said of Longoria. “He’s the guy you don’t really want to beat you.”

Thomson lost two games against the Rays in April 2008 when Girardi had an upper respiratory infection, and beat Baltimore a month later while the manager served a one-game suspension.

The Rays trailed 2-1 in the seventh when they loaded the bases with no outs off Adam Warren, who then allowed Logan Morrison’s sacrifice fly.

Chasen Shreve entered with two outs and gave up Rickie Weeks’ two-run double that third baseman Ronald Torreyes couldn’t grab on a short hop as Tampa Bay went up 4-2.

“It was a ball I could have caught and I think it was the difference in the game,” Torreyes said through a translator.

Matt Holliday tied it at 4 on a two-run homer in the eighth off Ryne Stanek.

The Yankees got a scare in the eighth when second baseman Starlin Castro and Judge collided while chasing Daniel Robertson’s foul ball near the right field bullpen. Both stayed in the game.

The Yankees got Castro’s run-scoring grounder in the first and a third-inning RBI double from Jacoby Ellsbury.

Morrison drove in run with a double in the first.

The Rays tied the AL record, set by Texas earlier this season, for consecutive games striking out 10 or more times with seven. Tampa Bay struck out 13 times Friday night and lead the majors with 464 this season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: INF-OF Tyler Austin (broken left ankle) had his first rehab game with Class A Tampa postponed by rain.

FUTURE MANAGER?

“It’s in the back of mind because right now I’m thinking about the rest of the season,” Thomson said.

RESTED

Yankees 3B Chase Headley, in a 4-for-40 slide, and C Gary Sanchez both got the day. The team arrived in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area around 4 a.m. after playing Thursday night at Kansas City.

UP NEXT

Yankees: RHP Masahiro Tanaka (5-2) and RHP Matt Andriese (3-1) are Saturday’s scheduled starters. Tanaka is coming off a start Sunday against Houston where he allowed eight runs and four homers in 1 2/3 innings of a 10-7 loss.